Albert’s Top New Zealand Destinations

Pancake Rocks – Punakaiki

We had the chance of visiting Punakaiki in the middle of a storm, and saw the surging sea at its best. The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) have done a fabulous job of providing safe viewing platforms while preserving the wild west coast.

There is plenty of space for lots of visitors and information boards make the limestone rocks and blowholes even more interesting. We enjoyed seeing rare weka around the carpark in the visitor centre.

It was a stormy weekend morning, we just decided to go and see the Pancake Rocks (didn’t expect it to be that good). It is around a 1 hour loop walk, but with plenty of great lookouts on the track. The drive in the dark south island country road at night was also fun.